This invention relates to a bar-code reader use in the EPOS system and the like.
Conventional prevailing bar-code reader based on the linear image sensor operate only when a complete bar code symbol including start and stop patterns enters at once in the view field of the linear image sensor.
In order to increase information carried by a bar code symbol and reduce the size of symbol, new bar code systems Code49 and Code16K have been developed recently. These bar codes, generally called "two-dimensional bar codes," are intended to increase information and reduce the symbol size by disposing rows of stripes in multiple stages instead of extending the alignment of stripes too long.
However, conventional bar-code readers based on the linear image sensor are not capable of reading these two-dimensional bar code symbols. Moreover, conventional bar-code readers are not capable of reading even usual bar code symbols if they are held in an inclined attitude against the bar code label, in which case a complete bar code symbol including start and stop patterns does not enter at once in the view field of the image sensor.